Corey Heim ended up being the only driver who actually delivered on being the favorite to win in Phoenix, closing out the Championship 4 weekend on top. It was an exemplary season for the 22-year-old, who, by winning 12 races in 25 starts, captured the Craftsman Truck Series title. But to reach this point, Heim had to take a road that was anything but cushioned.
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Unlike many of his peers, Heim didn’t come from deep pockets or ready-made sponsorships. Every step of his climb came from hard work and taking whatever chances he could get.
Raised in Cumming, Georgia, Hein cut his teeth at local tracks and the Lanier quarter-midget circuit, operating on a shoestring budget. Only when his father’s business began to stabilize could Heim move up to Late Models, the ground that eventually opened the door to ARCA.
Between 2019 and 2022, Heim logged nine ARCA wins and caught the attention of Kyle Busch Motorsports, who handed him the wheel of the No. 51 Truck. Reflecting on that journey, Heim admitted, “It’s a surreal feeling. I came from 2019… I ran a part-time schedule with a different team. Had a pretty lackluster year.”
The Tricon Garage driver recalled how his father put every last dime into keeping his dream alive, hoping that a manufacturer would take notice and offer support to go full-time.
That break came with Venturini Motorsports in 2020, where Heim ran a seven-race ARCA schedule while still juggling Late Model starts on the side. But even then, he realized the odds. “If you run seven ARCA races, you’re not really in a running to be in a full-time truck at some point,” he said.
And that was kind of the breaking point for Heim. He was able to win Kansas, his last race of the year, and he got a full-time opportunity with Venturini and Toyota the next year. “Go out and have a really good year. Set myself up for success going forward,” he said.
Heim stayed true to those who backed him early. “Little by little, I kind of just kept faith in Toyota, what they had planned for me. I’ve always felt like I’ve been put in a really good position at all times. Kept faith in that, kept faith in TRICON Garage. Earn was kind of unsure where we would land from them moving from David Gilliland Racing at the time.”
That faith paid off in full as Heim’s alliance with Toyota and TRICON evolved into a powerhouse partnership, culminating in a season for the record books. Looking back, he still finds the rise hard to process. “If you told myself in 2020 where I’d be in 2025, I probably wouldn’t believe you,” he said.
From scraping together local races in Georgia to hoisting the Truck Series trophy, Heim’s journey, which wasn’t fueled by money or connections but by belief and performance that left no room for doubt, outdrove privilege over hard work.
